Counting Down

Episode 20

Japan:

            Two monks sat at their table, sipping tea. They were having a nice conversation in Japanese. Their home was atop a mountain outside of Tokyo. Suddenly the ground began to shake. Both monks fell to the ground.

            "From beneath you, it devours," one said.

            "It is coming," the other said.

India:

            The streets of the city were packed with people. There was a religious festival being held today. There was going to be a huge parade in the center of the city. Everyone was excited.

            That's when the ground began to shake. People ran in every direction, screaming in terror. A young man walked up to the podium. He was the only calm one in the entire city.

            "From beneath you, it devours," the calm man spoke into the microphone, so that all could hear.

Germany:

            There was a world summit meeting being held in Berlin, Germany. Political leaders from all over the world were there discussing worldly matters. The meeting was being held in an undisclosed location to keep everyone safe.

            The ground began to shake and the leaders fell from their chairs. Glass was shattering and things were falling and breaking. There was panic throughout the entire room.

            A lonely woman walked through a distracted security. No one even noticed her. She walked up to the center stand and spoke to the world leaders.

            "It has begun," she said, calmly.

Sunnydale, California:

            Buffy was out patrolling the city. She was nervous, extremely nervous. In fact, all her friends were nervous. Their time had been running out. In less than two days, it was said that the apocalypse would begin. Buffy knew this would probably be her last night of slaying. This would be one of her last days alive.

 She couldn't believe that no one in this town had noticed anything, especially the recent earthquakes. The people had no idea what was going to happen in less than forty-eight hours. The sudden increase in murders hadn't even sparked suspicion from the people.

Tomorrow would be Buffy's last day to enjoy life and she wasn't even sure what she would do. All she knew was that the day after she would be fighting for her life and the lives of every person in the world.

As she made her way by the cemetery, she peered in. Suddenly a hand shot up from a grave close to the gates. Without hesitating, Buffy ran through the gates and towards the grave.

"It's good to be free," the new vampire said.

He had no idea that his new life would be over in a matter of minutes. Buffy ran at him and tackled him to the ground.

"What the hell?" the vampire questioned as he pushed Buffy off of him, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm called the slayer," Buffy said, pulling out a stake.

"And that means?" the vampire asked.

"It means that it's my job to kill you," Buffy replied.

"But I'm already dead," he argued.

"Geez, you new ones don't understand what being a vampire is," she said, shoving the stake into his heart.

The vampire turned to dust, that blew away in the early summer breeze.

"I feel a little better now," she said to herself.

She left the cemetery and made her way home. Everything was quiet and dark all through town. Maybe the citizens did know that something was going to happen soon.

"One more day left," Buffy said aloud, right before walking through the door into her house.

The Next Day:

            Buffy awoke from a good night's sleep. She didn't realize what was happening. All she knew was the morning light. Then it hit her as she stood up, this would be her last day of peace.

            She slipped out of her tank-top and flannel pants and into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She headed downstairs for breakfast, where he friends were.

            "Good morning, Buffster," Xander welcomed as she sat down at the table.

            He was sitting at the table with Anya, his girlfriend. They were apparently waiting for breakfast to be served. Willow walked into the dining room with two plates of food.

            "Oh, good morning, Buffy," Willow said as she put the plates in front of Anya and Xander, "Would you like some eggs?"

            "Sure," Buffy said and smiled.

            Willow returned to the kitchen and in came back in a few seconds later with two more plates. She put one in front of Buffy and the other in front of an empty seat, and then she sat down

            Buffy looked at her plate. There were scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.

            "It looks delicious, Willow," Buffy commented.

            "Thanks," Willow said, "I woke up bright and early so I could make it for everyone."

            The four of them ate their breakfast in silence. None of them wanted to bring up the subject of the apocalypse that would happen the next day. Buffy could tell that her three friends were as nervous as she was. She knew that they would stick by her no matter what, but the words that her sister said, still haunted her.

            Buffy had always known that her friends wouldn't always be there to help. It had happened several times in the past. But knowing that they wouldn't be there to help her fight the first was even harder to realize.

            "You know," Xander began, breaking the silence, "Why don't we spend the day at the beach?"

            "Hey, that's a great idea," Willow replied.

            "We should start getting lunches made and our stuff together," Buffy added.

            For once, she was actually happy to be going to the beach. She had hated going to the beach, especially after drowning in her fight with the master. They gathered all their beachwear and made lunches. Then the four of them piled into Xander's car and headed for the beach.

The Beach:

            The four of them got out of Xander's car. Buffy grabbed the bag with all the towels and Xander grabbed the cooler. They made their way from the parking lot, to the sand.

            They had to run because the sand was very hot. They laughed on the whole walk down to the water. Each spread out their own towels and Xander put the cooler behind the towels.

            "Last one in the water, is a loser," Buffy shouted and made a dash for the water. She was laughing hysterically.

            "Hey!" Xander shouted, "No fair! You're faster than all of us!"

            "That's not my problem," Buffy replied, still laughing.

            Buffy made it into the water first. She got about waist deep when the others made it up to their knees.

            "Watch out!" Willow yelled.

            Buffy turned around to see a huge wave coming towards her. She pinched her nose closed and dove under it. When she resurfaced, her friends were all next to her. She knew that this was the best time they had ever spent together. This was the most fun that she had in a long time.

            Time seemed like nothing to the four friends. They had known each other since high school, but had never had this much fun together. They were laughing, joking, teasing, and just having fun during this gorgeous day at the beach. The day couldn't be any more perfect. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue, it was warm, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

            The thoughts of the apocalypse had seemed to just wash away in the ocean. They had completely forgotten about the oncoming danger of the next day. This beautiful day was dedicated to having fun. And that's just what Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Anya did.

Giles' Apartment:

            On the other hand, Giles wasn't having fun at all. He was busy training the soon to be slayers. It was hard work for one man.

            "Only several hours left until the final showdown begins," Giles told the three of them during a break, "I have faith that all of you will fight with honor and fight to the death tomorrow."

Summers' Residence:

It was close to nine when they returned from the beach. They were very tired from the physical activities of the day. Right before Buffy was about to go upstairs to bed, the phone wrung.

            "Hello."

            "Buffy, it's me."

            "Hey Giles. What's up?"

            "I have figured out that it will begin around 9 AM tomorrow."

            "That's early. How are the six going to get around?"

            "It says in another prophecy that the moon will overtake the sun. Day will become night. When the seal is broken, it will be free, free to destroy the world."

            "Oh."

            "I will be at your house at 8."

            "Okay."

            "I will see you tomorrow, Buffy."

            "Ok, Giles. Goodnight.

            She hung up the phone and made her way to bed. She fell asleep instantly, worrying about what Dawn had said about her friends not being there to help.